Soon, the PAX West show will return to the Seattle city for 2018. And within, are some new gems from this year’s PAX 10 lineup.

The PAX 10 is an annual list of industry chosen new indie games, earned approval as worthwhile to check out to all gamers. These interactive works add fresh and innovative elements in gameplay, have an interesting style, fun and sometimes weird. For both the PAX West and East shows, attendees can demo these games, with the developers usually present. Each annual list is special and inspirational for new upcoming talent, showing you need not big company brands to impress potential gamers. Just keep the player engaged with something original, engaging and fun. Others will notice.

For this 2018 run, here is the PAX 10 worthy of your attention:

Gunhead

Developer – Alientrap
Platform – Windows/Steam
Genre – Roguelike FPS
Website: www.alientrap.com

“Gunhead is a fast paced roguelike FPS where you take the role of a pirate mech with a gun for a head, looting derelict spaceships filled with monstrous drones made out of bone and steel. Sequel to Cryptark – Coming 2018.”

Personal Thoughts: The art style is beautiful and comic book cell-shaded. The overall feeling is a bit visual overload, but maybe that’s part of the fun.

Mirror

Developer – Ian Lilley
Platform – Windows / Linux
Genre – Puzzle
Website: http://www.mirrordropgame.com

“Mirror Drop is a psychedelic 3D puzzle game where you maneuver a reflective sphere in a world full of mirrors, over-saturated colors, and infinities. Each level contains three puzzles and a hidden exit, set against 100% raytraced alien geometry.”

Personal Thoughts: This looks trippy as hell, and could be more involving as a VR title.

DropOverload

Developer – Revival Productions
Platform – Windows / Mac / Linux / Xbox One / PS4 (Steam/Gog)
Genre – Shooter
Website: http://www.playoverload.com

:A new six-degree-of-freedom shooter from the creators of Descent with intuitive controls, amazing lighting and graphics, and the best zero-G robot-blasting combat ever devised.”

Personal Thoughts: Looks very polished, with a lot of added potential for VR.

Pizza Titan Ultra

Developer – Breakfall Inc.
Platform – Windows via Steam (Xbox One / PS4 Coming Soon)
Genre – Action
Website: www.pizzatitanultra.com

“Pizza Titan Ultra is a fast paced 3rd-person action platformer focused on fighting and smashing through a futuristic city, in a giant mech, to deliver pizza. Experience arcadey action with speedy attacking and dodging, but also attempting to control the massive weight of a 10 storey mobile pizzeria. Just try not to make too much of a mess.”

Personal Thoughts: I love this ridiculous premise, where Crazy Taxi meets Gundam. The mech designs are awesome.

Praey for the Gods

Developer – No Matter Studios
Platform- Windows
Genre – Action Adventure
Website: www.praeyforthegods.com

“Praey for the Gods is a brutal journey set on a desolate frozen island, where your only chance of survival is to destroy the very gods you believe in. In Praey for the Gods, you play a lone hero sent to the edge of a dying world to discover the mystery behind a never-ending winter. Arriving with only the clothes on your back, you must survive the colossal dangers that you encounter. To restore balance and reclaim the land from the brink, you will be faced with questions that not even a God knows the answer to.”

Personal Thoughts: A beautiful, story-driven game, where the play and progress is the exposition, driven by exploration and survival. As a big fan of the classic Shadow of the Colossus game, this excites me.

Retimed

Developer – Team Maniax
Platform – Nintendo Switch
Genre – Multiplayer Arena Shooter
Website: maniax-games.com/Retimed

“Retimed is a local multiplayer arena shooter for 2-4 players with slow-motion. It’s a combination of Super Smash Bros and the film Matrix. When an enemy bullet gets close to you, time slows down and a time bubble is created around the player. Now there is enough time to react and try to dodge the deadly projectiles. These time bubbles generate exciting alternations between fast-paced movement and tension-filled slow motion moments.”

Personal Thoughts: An interesting concept, which I think I would need to test before getting too involved.

Roundguard

Developer – Wonderbelly Games
Platform – Windows
Genre – Rogue-like
Website: http://www.wonderbellygames.com/

“A bouncy physics-based roguelite with a cast of oddballs, procedural dungeons, and lots of loot. Like if Peggle played D&D in the basement.”

Personal Thoughts: This looks fun. I like when RPG elements gets mixed into other genres. 

Shift Quantum

Developer – Fishing Cactus
Platform – PS4 / XBOX One / Nintendo Switch
Genre – Puzzle Platformer
Website: www.shiftquantum.com

“Axon Vertigo, the world’s leading authority and most trusted friend in cerebral contentedness programming, promises to deliver better life quality for everyone with the Shift Quantum program. Connected to the cyber-noir action-puzzle platformer, you will be task to solve puzzles and create negative space by inverting the world to transform barriers into escape routes. Shift the world, twist your environment, bend your mind to unveil its secrets and solve each brain-drilling level. Make use of all special gameplay blocks to overcome obstacles and get to the exit to find the happiness you have been searching for and promised by Axon Vertigo.”

Personal Thoughts: I like the customization feature, and would play it just to see what others would come up with. I like the style too, and hope there is a good story with that too.

Tick Tock: A Tale for Two

http://www.ticktockthegame.com

Developer – Other Tales Interactive
Platform – Windows
Genre – Co-op adventure
Website: www.ticktockthegame.com

“Tick Tock: A Tale for Two is a co-op adventure where you and your friend get trapped by the skilful clockmaker Amalie Ravn. In order to escape you need to navigate a magical clock world filled with secrets and puzzles. The only problem is… neither of you have the full picture. Prepare yourselves for a narrative experience where your communication skills are put to the test. Read out loud to each other, discuss what you see, and combine the information on your two screens to get closer to the truth and your ultimate escape. Play on any two devices, local or remotely, all you need is a voice connection.”

Personal Thoughts: An interesting idea this is. I like it, but would need the right kind of person with a good attention span to take this seriously.

With Friends Like These

Developer – Shy Kids Club
Platform – Nintendo Switch / PC
Genre – Co-Op 2D shooter
Website: www.shykidsclub.com/with-friends-like-these

“With Friends Like These is a game that lovingly forces co-operation. Everyone on your home planet is super bored and over worked! So you and your bestie have decided to take everyone on a trip to Crazy Time Planet where everyone can let off some steam. Unfortunately, things go wrong and you crash into Super Chill World, your friends don’t realise they’re on the wrong planet and start to cause chaos. It’s up to you and your pal to collect up all your friends before they cause too much damage and drive the Super Chill residents insane.”

Personal Thoughts: Cute and weird, which the games industry can never have enough of. A game like this would work well in a video arcade cabinet, and I would spend the quarters for it.